- There are 17 single consonants:
| Vowels |
Phoneme |
English equivalent sounds
|
| b |
/ɓ/ |
but
|
| c |
/k/ |
sky
|
| d |
/z/ |
zoo (Northern)
|
| d |
/j/ |
yes (Southern & Central)
|
| đ |
/ɗ/ |
do
|
| g |
/ɣ/ |
go
|
| h |
/h/ |
hat
|
| k |
/k/ |
sky
|
| l |
/l/ |
long
|
| m |
/m/ |
me
|
| n |
/n/ |
no
|
| p |
/p/ |
sport (cannot occur initially, except in loan words)
|
| q |
/k/ |
square
|
| r |
/z/ |
zoo (Northern)
|
| r |
/ɹ/ |
run (Southern & Central)
|
| s |
/s/ |
stay (Northern)
|
| s |
/∫/ |
show (Southern & Central)
|
| t |
/t/ |
stop
|
| v |
/v/ |
video
|
| x |
/s/ |
see
|
- There are 10 consonant digraphs:
| Vowels |
Phoneme |
English equivalent sounds
|
| ch |
/c/ |
cha-cha
|
| gh |
/ɣ/ |
go
|
| gi |
/z/ |
zoo (Northern)
|
| gi |
/j/ |
yes (Southern & Central)
|
| kh |
/x/ |
loch
|
| nh |
/ɲ/ |
canyon
|
| ng |
/ŋ/ |
sing, but can occur initially.
|
| ph |
/f/ |
Philip
|
| th |
/tʰ/ |
as in top (aspirated "t"), not as in thin
|
| tr |
/c/ |
cha-cha (Northern)
|
| tr |
/ʈʂ/ |
straw (Southern and Central)
|
| qu |
/kw/ |
square (Northern & Central)
|
| qu |
/w/ |
world (Southern)
|
There is one consonant trigraph:
ngh /ŋ/: nghỉ, nghiêm, nghiêng
- There are 8 final consonants:
| Vowels |
Phoneme |
English equivalent sounds
|
| c |
/k/ |
rack
|
| ch |
/k/ |
sick (cut in the South)
|
| m |
/m/ |
gym
|
| n |
/n/ |
ban
|
| nh |
/ɲ/ |
canyon
|
| ng |
/ŋ/ |
sing
|
| p |
/p/ |
tap
|
| t |
/t/ |
pat
|
